Closing Night of 2014 Rio de Janeiro Short Film Festival

By Jay Forte, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Today marks the final day of the Curta Cinema 2014 festival, the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival, which has featured free screenings of over 250 short films from 31 countries. Curtas Cinema is one of the most important Brazilian festivals dedicated to the format, and the only festival in which the prize pool qualifies to compete for the Oscars.

For closing night, the film “Remedial Class” will screen at Cine Estação Botafogo’s first theater at 9PM. Before that, the films “Shadow,” “Fish,” “Al-Kora,” “A Delusion of Grandeur,” and “The Lady That Wouldn’t Stop Drinking Passion Fruit Juice” will screen again in Cine Estação Botafogo’s second theater beginning at 4PM.

At the Centro Cultural Justiça Federal the films in the national competition will be “Statue!,” “Reptile Shop,” The Life of Matches is not a Peice of Cake, Kitty,” and “Amazing World Remix,” starting at 4:30 PM at Av. Rio Branco, 241 by the Cinelândia metro (subway) stop in Centro.

The festival is wrapping its 24th year, an impressive run in a format that is not known for its commercial or marketing aspects. However the organization applauds the short film format’s capacity to produce constant renovation in the media and the language it uses.

Created in 1991, the festival initially stemmed from the desire of two university students to create a new space for shorts at a time when ads were systematically replacing short movies before the screening of feature-length movies.

“It is very hard to create an avenue for short movies today. Movies have become a product and it is always a big dispute between producers, exhibitors and filmmakers to conquer this space. This is why it is so important to have a festival that is free and where the general public can come,” said Ailton Franco Jr., creator of the festival.

Short films are a natural place for new filmmakers, but it is not limited merely to being a gateway to the universe of commercial cinema. Organizers say, “It is above all a universe of unique characteristics which make it independent and autonomous in relation to other models of audiovisual production.”

“What keeps us going with the Rio de Janeiro International Short Film Festival – Curta Cinema over the years is precisely the certainty that this creative force is fundamental for the revitalization of audiovisual production as a whole, be it for cinema, TV or any other format.”

Curta Cinema 2014 Festival
Cine Estação Botafogo 1 – 4PM and 9PM
Rua Voluntários da Pátria 88, Botafogo – Tel: (21) 2226 1988
Entrance: Free